CHAPTER EIGHT

Eld ~ Boura Fell

“Master Maur!” Primage Vargus stood at attention as the High Mage strode into the war room in a swirl of purple silk and visible purpose. “Your orders, Most High?”

“It is time. Tell the generals to prepare their men. They attack on my signal.”

“Yes, Most High. I’ll contact them immediately.”

Vadim leaned against the map table, with its glowing vertical display of the armies and battlefields stretched across Celieria’s northern border. “And tell Horan to release his pets.”

Celieria ~ Orest

“Lord Teleos!” The armored soldier raced from the battlements of Upper Orest into what had once been a lush conservatory overlooking the magnificent falls of Kierya’s Veil and Maiden’s Gate. The building now served as Lord Teleos’s command center, and the soaring glass walls and ceilings provided a perfect panoramic view of Upper Orest and the vast stretch of Eld and Celieria to the east, separated by the wide dark ribbon of the Heras River.

Devron Teleos looked up from the table where he and his generals were reviewing the defense plans for Upper Orest and the hastily rebuilt lower city. The look on the approaching soldier’s face brought Lord Teleos to his feet, his spine stiffening with a mix of dread and grim resolve. “What is it?”

“Something approaches in the skies to the north, my lord,” the soldier gasped.

Teleos headed to the glass walls of the conservatory. One of the Celierian generals was already there, spyglass raised and pointed north. “What in the Bright Lord’s name is that?”

Teleos followed the man’s gaze and saw tiny black specks on the horizon. What appeared to be a flock of dark birds was flying towards them across the forests of Eld. The Fey blood in Lord Teleos’s veins had blessed him with a variety of gifts, including the ability to see much greater distances than mortal eyes could. His eyes narrowed, bringing the distant shapes into closer focus. He saw the barbed and taloned wings, the long white fangs, the iridescent sheen of black scales, and the bottom dropped out of his stomach.

“Bright Lord save us,” he breathed. “Dragons. Dragons are coming.” To the gathered Celierian military leaders, he issued a spate of orders. “Captain Morrow, sound the alarm. Get the women and children to Maiden’s Gate. Order every able-bodied man and boy capable of wielding a bow to report to the armories. And light the signal fires. We’re going to need all the help we can get before this is over. General Arlon, tell the cannoneers to arm the bowcannon with ice shot.”

To the Fey general who had led his men to Dharsa to defend Orest from the Eld, Dev said, “General vel Shevahn, we’ll need every Fey you can spare on the wizard’s wall.”

The Fey bowed his head. “Already done, Lord Teleos. We’ll shield as much of the city as we can against dragon fire, but be aware that whatever we do to keep out the dragons will keep the tairen out, too. And we’ll have to lower the wall shields each time we fire, or the ice shot will be useless. “

“Understood. Do what you can.” On threads of Spirit spun intentionally too weak to travel far, he added, «And call the Feyreisen. I count twenty dragons coming in. The tairen are outnumbered.»

Celieria ~ Kreppes

Rain and Ellysetta raced for the clearing just south of their encampment. The defenders of Orest were in trouble. Four tairen didn’t stand a chance against twenty dragons, even with the Mists to aid them.

Torasul had already sung the call to Sybharukai, and except for two of the great cats remaining behind to watch over the kits, Fey’Bahren had emptied. The entire pride was winging towards Orest to protect their kin and fight alongside the Fey and Lord Teleos’s men.

Rain wished he could say the same for the Fey, but a frantic weave to the Massan had proved that blind idiocy still reigned supreme in the Fading Lands’ governing council. They were convinced that Rain, not the Eld, were to blame for the war and that Rain’s devotion to Ellysetta had blinded him to the danger she posed.

«lf not for you, there would be no war!» Tenn accused. «From the moment you arrived in Celieria, you convinced yourself the Eld were a threat to the world, and you refused to hear a single voice of reason. You beat the drums of war without cease. You convinced Dorian to build up his troops. You built Fey garrisons at Orest and Teleon, built up Fey and Celierian military presence on the borders. Is it any wonder the Eld attacked?

«You, Tairen Soul, made Celieria the target. You—not the Eld—ordered thousands of fine Fey warriors to their deaths! But the Massan will not endanger more Fey lives by condoning your madness and your senseless war of aggression against Eld.»

«You are a fool, Tenn,» Rain replied. «I am not the enemy. Perhaps you think I don’t deserve to wear the crown your brother once did. But Johr Feyreisen would never have condoned your actions. You bring shame to your family line.»

«How dare you!»

«I give you fair warning, v’En Eilan. When this is over, and Ellysetta and I have completed our bond, I intend to claim my throne. I suggest you do not stand in the way.»

Magic exploded in a billowing cloud of gray mist as Rain Changed on the run and soared into the sky. He wheeled back and dipped low over the field. Ellysetta timed her mount perfectly, leaping up on a jet of Air and landing in the saddle as he dove past.

«Bel, Gaelen, gather the Fey and as many Celierians as can be spared and follow us,» Rain commanded. «The Massan have refused their support. We’re on our own, but we can’t let the Eld take the Veil.»

«We’ll be right behind you, Rain,» Bel vowed.

«Steli-chakai, we’ll be flying fast. Come when you can—and fly high to keep out of bowcannon range.»

With a roar, Rain banked in a tight circle, and with a burst of magic-powered speed, rocketed high into the sky, heading west, towards Orest and the gateway to the Fading Lands.

The Faering Mists

“Lorelle, I don’t think I like it here anymore.” Lillis clutched Snowfoot to her chest so tight, the little kitten mewed a protest and scratched her hand trying to get free. Lillis barely even noticed. The scratch didn’t hurt and almost as soon as it appeared, it disappeared again, healed by the magic that filled everything and everyone in this valley.

She wanted for nothing. She and Lorelle had a beautiful bedroom of their own filled with all the treasures and toys they could ever wish for. They had an entire roomful of beautiful dresses to wear and delicious foods to eat—including so many rich, powdery chocolate comfits that they’d practically made themselves sick gorging on them.

But despite her joy at being reunited with Mama, something about this place didn’t feel right.

No matter how many sweets they ate, Mama never objected. And Lorelle, who could be so irritating sometimes, had been inexplicably pleasant and good-natured.

Lillis asked about Kieran and Kiel several times now, but each time the beautiful Fey lady Eiliss—or one of the dozens of other beautiful Fey lords and ladies with her—would smile gently, and say, “Patience, kitling. If they survived the battle, they would want you to remain here, where you are safe.”

Papa and Mama seemed in no rush to find Kieran either. Or to leave.

“But it’s so peaceful and beautiful here,” Papa said, when she talked to him about it. “We’re all together and we’re all safe here. Isn’t that enough, Lillipet?”

At first it had seemed so. At first it had seemed perfect. But now, even though only a few days had passed, the perfection was beginning to wear thin. Part of the problem was, they weren’t all together. Ellysetta wasn’t with them. Kieran and Kiel weren’t with them.

And no one but Lillis seemed the slightest bit interested in finding them.

Lillis stroked Snowfoot, then knelt on the floor to nuzzle the kitten’s tiny nose and roll one of the pretty latticework jingle balls across the carpet. Snowfoot leapt upon the ball and swatted it with a tiny paw, sending it rolling across the floor. The bells chimed merrily against the pretty white stone in the ball’s center.

“Maybe we should try to find Kieran and Kiel on our own,” she told Lorelle.

Beside her, Lorelle looked up with a frown, then tossed her own jingle ball for her kitten, Pounce. “Mama and Papa would never allow it. We don’t have any idea where we are or how to find our way back. We’d get lost.” Pounce leapt for the ball, missed, and went sliding across the polished marble floor with his limbs splayed and an expression of pure bewilderment on his fuzzy face. “Besides, you heard Lady Eiliss yesterday. We should stay put until they find Kieran and Kiel, or Kieran and Kiel find us. It’s much too dangerous to go wandering around.”

Lillis frowned. “I don’t think anyone is looking for Kieran or Kiel at all. If they were, why wouldn’t they have found them?”

“We’re in the middle of the Faering Mists,” Lorelle replied. “It’s hard to find anything in here.”

“Lady Eiliss found us easily enough. And Papa. And how can Mama really be here?” Snowfoot pounced on his jingle ball again, sending it skittering, and Lillis caught the toy with an idle hand. Her brows knit together. The worry that had been preying on her mind roused again, and this time it would not be brushed aside. “Lorelle… do you think maybe we’re all”—she bit her lip and whispered her growing fear aloud—“dead? And this is really the Haven of Light? Eiliss looks beautiful enough to be a Lightmaiden.”

“Of course not.” Lorelle rejected the idea immediately, and for the first time since Lillis had come to this city in the Mists, Lorelle’s brows furrowed in a very Lorelle-like scowl. “That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Lillis lunged for her twin and threw her arms around her throat in a fervent hug.

“Hey!” Lorelle exclaimed in surprise. “What was that for?”

“Nothing. Everything.” Tears sprang to Lillis’s eyes. She swiped at them with backs of her hands. “It’s just that’s the first time you’ve really seemed like you since I got here.”

“You ninnywit.” Lorelle gave her a shove.

Lillis rocked back, laughed, then hugged her again, even tighter this time. “Oh, Lorelle, I’ve been so worried. Everything seemed so perfect, so wonderful. More like a dream than anything real.”

“Why is that so bad?”

“It’s not.” Lillis frowned. “It’s just that…”

“Aren’t you happy here?”

“Yes… but…” She couldn’t put her fears into words. The sense of… not exactly wrongness, but more of a not-rightness. She frowned. Lorelle usually knew what she was feeling even before she did. Why didn’t she now?

“Just be happy, Lillis, and enjoy this place. We’re safe here. Nothing can hurt us. We’re with Mama and Papa. We have everything we need—and everything we’ve ever wanted.”

“But not Ellie. And not Kieran and Kiel either.”

Before Lorelle could answer, a knock sounded on the door.

Lillis put a finger to her lips and signaled Lorelle not to answer. Lorelle ignored her and called out, “Come in.”

The door opened, and Eiliss, the tall, shining woman who had found Lillis, stood in the threshold. She wore a gown that sparkled like snow in sunlight, and her long, golden brown hair tumbled down her back in lustrous ringlets. A circlet of fragrant white Amarynth crowned her head, and her warm amber eyes made Lillis want to laugh with joy and forget all about silly things like whether or not this—and she—were real.

“Come, ajianas,” Eiliss said. “We have visitors. I think you will both be pleased to see them.”

With a cry of excitement, Lorelle bounced to her feet and bounded out. Lillis paused to pick up Snowfoot, then followed more slowly. Eiliss led the way down the corridors of the beautiful building out into the verdant town square, where fingers of mist swirled and eddied around soaring conifers and evergreens, and a central fountain splashed like the melody of a peaceful song.

There, at the center of a cluster of Fey villagers, stood two Fey warriors clad in black leather: one with flowing, waist-length blond hair, the other with shining chestnut. At the sound of Lorelle’s excited squeal, they turned in unison, their beautiful Fey faces breaking into smiles of welcome.

“Little Fey’cha,” laughed Kiel as Lorelle raced across the square and leapt into his arms. He swung her around in exuberant circles.

“Ajiana.” Kieran walked towards Lillis, a dazzling smile upon his beloved face, his Fey-bright eyes as blue as sky-flowers.

Lillis stood frozen in place. Her heart pounded like one of Papa’s hammers in her chest. Kieran looked exactly the way she pictured him from her most treasured memories. Exactly. Tall, handsome, his skin luminescent, his eyes Fey-bright…

… with Love the kitten perched upon his shoulder, flicking her stubby little tail against his ear and purring so loud Lillis could hear it clear across the square.

And then she knew, and her nine-year-old heart broke.

“You’re not real.” Tears blurred her vision. “None of this is real.” Mama, Papa, Lorelle, Kieran, Kiel—the family and friends she loved so dearly—all were just an illusion. She turned to Eiliss, sobbing. “Why? Why are you doing this to me? “

“Are you not safe?” the shining Fey replied. “Are you not happy? “

“It’s all a lie!” she cried. “I thought Fey didn’t lie!”

“Is it a lie to offer you what your heart desires? To make you happy and keep you safe from harm. Here, in the Mists, you can be with your mother. Is that not what you want most?”

Hot tears ran down Lillis’s cheeks, and sobs tore from her throat in painful heaves. “But not like this!”

Lorelle—or rather the illusion that wore Lorelle’s face—stepped forward. “Listen to Lady Eiliss. You are in danger out there. Here, with us, you are safe. You wanted to be safe, and so you are. You wanted to be with Mama, and she’s here. You wanted Kieran and Kiel, and they are here, too.”

Lillis backed away. “No! No! I won’t stay here. This isn’t what I want.” Her wild, tear-filled gaze fixed on Mama, standing in the doorway, watching Lillis. She was the only one who didn’t say anything, the only one who didn’t try to convince Lillis to stay. She simply stood there, watching Lillis with wise and watchful eyes. It’s better to choke on a bitter truth than savor a honey-cake lie. Mama’s admonition rang in Lillis’s ears.

Lillis squeezed her eyes shut and clutched Snowfoot to her chest. “Go away!” she cried. “Go away, all of you! This isn’t what I want! I want the truth! Show me the truth!”

A hot tingling sensation flashed through her body. The burbling splash of the village fountain and the whisper of the wind rustling through the treetops faded. The pleading voices of Papa, Kieran, Kiel, and Lorelle died away and the world fell into utter silence.

Pain intruded. It started as a dull ache, then accelerated to burning, throbbing spikes of pain jabbing her like knives.

Lillis cried out, and her eyes flew open.

The village in the misty valley was gone. Lorelle, Papa, Kieran, Kiel—Mama—all were gone. She lay buried in a pile of rubble. The world was dark except for a tiny shaft of pale light that illuminated the prison of rocks and dirt and broken tree limbs that lay heaped over her body.

She couldn’t move. Could hardly breathe. Something heavy pressed down on her chest. She tried to move her hand, then cried out when bones grated and a sharp pain lanced up her arm.

She coughed, then cried out again. Her chest was on fire. Each breath felt like the stab of a knife. She had no sensation at all below her chest, and she had a terrible feeling she knew why.

Just two years ago, Tomy Sorris’s older brother had fallen from the roof of his family home while trying to sneak out his bedroom window and get into mischief with his friends. They said his back was broken and that he couldn’t move his arms or legs. His injuries had been too grave for the local hearth witch, and he’d died before a more powerful healer could come.

Was that why the Mists had created that illusion of Mama and Papa and the beautiful city in the valley? Had whatever magic lived here in the Mists been trying to make her last bells as happy and peaceful as possible?

Lillis closed her eyes and let the tears welling in her eyes spill down into her hair. “Mama… Papa…” This bit of hard truth wasn’t just bitter, it was the most awful torment she’d ever known.

She was dying.

She’d thought she was going to die before, when war had broken out at Teleon and she’d seen the darrokken racing up the mountainside towards her, but now she knew it for certain. Death was crouching patiently, just beyond what she could see. She could feel its cold nearness in each painful, struggling gasp of breath. Soon it would pounce, just like Snowfoot pouncing on a jingle ball.

Frightened, she tried to call out, but her throat was too dry, her lungs too short of breath to do more than croak raggedly. “Papa? Lorelle?”

No answer.

“Kieran? Kiel? Anyone?” Her weak, raspy call fell like a coin into a bottomless wishing well, swallowed quickly by silence and darkness.

Her head fell back. More frightened, desolate tears spilled from her eyes, and her broken ribs sent jolts of pain radiating through her with each small, ragged sob she couldn’t manage to hold back.

For the first time in her life, Lillis was all alone.

And she knew, if someone didn’t find her soon, she would die here, lost in the Faering Mists, trapped in the rubble of a shattered mountain.

Eld ~ Boura Fell

A knock sounded at Vadim Maur’s office door.

“Enter.”

The door pushed inward, and Primage Zev stood on the threshold. “Generals Corag, Grosh, and Daemor are in position, Most High.”

“Excellent. And our Celierian friends?”

“Awaiting your command, Master Maur. The Tairen Soul is approaching Primage Fen’s position.”

Vadim leaned back and touched his steepled fingers to the underside of his chin. “Tell Fen to spring the trap.”

Celieria ~ Northern Border

The missile struck without warning.

It came from behind and plowed into Rain’s hind leg just below his left hip, detonating an explosion of raw pain. He roared and wrapped Ellysetta in an instinctive buffer of magic as he careened through the air and fought to regain control. Instantly, a new agony seared him, worse than weapon’s initial bite. Needles of white-hot pain shot through his veins and stabbed behind his eyes. A familiar bitter tang filled the back of his mouth.

Sel’dor.

«Ellysetta, hang on! We’re under fire!» Despite the pain, he maintained his protective weave around her.

A moment later, the sky before them turned black with a barrage of bowcannon spears flying faster and higher than any he’d ever encountered. Rain reared back. A second bolt pierced his chest, near his foreleg, while a third skimmed by so close it tore the edge of his right wing. He roared and banked with desperate speed as a fourth bolt scored his ribs and tore a hole through his left wing, leaving splinters of sel’dor behind. With Ellysetta on his back, he could not Change to avoid the missiles.

«Rain! To your left!» Ellysetta spun a dense pattern of Air and slammed it into the volley of spears, batting them away bare moments before they pierced Rain’s heart.

«Hold on. Keep low.» His wings flapped wildly as he fought to retain his balance and keep them aloft while he scanned the ground below for the source of the weapons fire. A Celierian Border Lord’s castle hugged the bend of the Heras River, and he spied the bowcannon on its ramparts just as they spat a fresh volley of sel’dor-tipped missiles.

Tairen breath heaved from his lungs, meeting the fine mist of venom that sprayed from his fangs and igniting just a few fingerspans from his muzzle when the two combined. Tairen fire poured forth in a roaring jet, incinerating the incoming spears to harmless black dust. He screamed a defiant challenge and dove toward the ramparts, raining fire upon the castle walls, consuming one full line of bowcannon and the soldiers scrambling to reload them.

Ellysetta flung weaves and Air and Fire everywhere his flame had not scorched. She cried out and her weaves cut off just as Rain felt the prickle of arrows pepper his hide. He spun away, roaring with fury. She’d been arrow-shot.

«Shei’tani?»

She clung to his back, leaning low over the saddle front.

«I’m fine.»

But she wasn’t. Two sel’dor-barbed arrows had buried themselves deep in her back, and he felt them as plainly as if it were his own back burning with their foul acid. Just the effort to speak to him on Spirit racked her slender body with pain.

They had wounded his mate! He screamed his Rage, and tairen fury turned his vision scarlet.

Before he could circle back and fire the rest of the castle, a third volley of spears burst from a line of cannon hidden in the surrounding forest. He banked instinctively in a tight, northward wheel, but the spears came too fast. Fresh black agony ripped through his right shoulder and back leg.

He tumbled through the air, losing altitude faster than he was losing blood. His tattered wings fought for balance, but every powerful flap shredded muscles against the razor-sharp shards of sel’dor in his flesh. His right wing, impeded by the spear piercing his shoulder, could not keep up with his left, and he careened helplessly northward, towards Eld.

«Rain! Look!»

Below, he saw what had previously escaped his notice: Eld soldiers, thousands of them, massing beneath camouflage netting draped between the trees. They raced out from beneath their cover, and sunlight glinted off their armor and unsheathed weapons. A company of archers loosed a hailstorm of arrows. He spun what protection he could around Ellysetta’s own shield and fired a path through the dark cloud of sel’dor missiles. He put on a burst of speed as he passed the archers, trying to outpace their second volley, but a Mage must have been accelerating their shots. Arrows tore through the tattered membranes of his wings and sank into his hide. He heard Ellysetta’s pained gasp as two of the missiles pierced their shields and buried themselves in her leg.

He saw the Eld running in pursuit as he plummeted down a faltering glide path. «Hold on, Ellysetta!»

The trees rose up quickly—too quickly—and he cannoned into them, tucking his wings tight against his back as he smashed through the treetops. Desperately, roaring in pain when the sel’dor punished his use of magic, he threw a protective web around Ellysetta just before he lost control and went tumbling downward. He felt Ellysetta being flung from the saddle and heard her cry out, but there was nothing he could do to stop her fall. He crashed through the forest, shattering massive trunks with his tumbling body. His wingbones snapped, but even that searing pain was nothing compared to the agony of the sel’dor buried in his flesh or the worse agony of Ellysetta’s scream as she fell to earth. His paws flexed, claws extending to dig into the trees, the ground, and even solid rock to slow his momentum.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of destruction, his battered tairen’s body came to rest against a small copse of fragrant brindlewood tree. Tiny yellow leaves drifted down upon him in a shower of bright winter fragrance.